![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/grocko/23xAMSVkTiSPwTot6DQXvhWfBWydVf2kBWuAuqLYoSt2mDd6TsGkfgbUtFhBD1CiaFfdM.png)


***

[picked up two new bodies; both heavily augmented]

*Keep them off me!*

June's sensors warned her to duck as a plasma shell exploded over her head. She rolled, threw an EMP in the same motion - the charge exploded on two Officers. She pulled up, blasters in each hand, killing both EMPed targets with a shot to the dome. She rolled behind cover again, as her previous one melted. 

*Need a Tri on a Melter here!*

[currently occupied with you previous order; will need 10 seconds]

*Cache this.* Her time was almost up, and this time: she wasn't losing.

June deactivated her cloak making herself visible to the enemy. They triangulated her position immediately, her sensors picking up two melts and three plasmas headed for her. Uncloaked however, she could detect her surroundings. It only took a cursory glance to find the Melter, and all her skill and experience to evade each and every shot. 

She cloaked. 

Leaping in clear line of fire, she dashed towards the most dangerous enemy - the Melter. Physical tells were rarely useful, but for a second she saw the glint off his metallic skin. June dodged two more plasmas as she took cover behind a pillar, loaded her blaster with a incendiary round, shot it at the Melter. The round burnt his cover, burnt his shield, took his life.    
 
[18 seconds]

"Time!" 

The rundown mall dissipated into the familiar training field. As June took off her Compulsers she heard her Companion. 

[best time yet; you're getting reprimanded though]

*I know...*

"Sgt. June!" Commander Kristel's voice broke the hum of the field like a whip. "My office!" 

*Oh boy...*

[worse than expected]

Companions could not convey tone or intention, but June got so used to Trax that she understood this last statement was a question. *Worse. She hasn't used that tone with me since I was a cadette.*

[remember; confidence] 
 
June nodded as the door to her Commander's office slid shut behind her. Kristel might know her the longest, but that familiarity grew a sense of expectation in the Commander that June could never reach. The Commander's stare was dark through her artificial eyes as she gestured towards an empty hoverchair. 

"Remember what we talked about last time?" 

"Be less reckless?" 

"And what did you do?" Kristel's right arm extended a good two meters to the right slamming the adjacent table over. "You let down your caching cloak! In all my years! You know how many years that is?" Her arm retracted with an annoyed *click.* "Answer is eighty! Eighty years as an instructor and I've *never* seen someone do something so stupid."

June refused to meet her gaze and mumbled an unconvincing. "Still got the best time..."

"Time? *Time?* What good is time if you are dead, girl?"

"I'm no girl..."

"You're thirty years old! If that's not a child I don't know what is..." She leaned back, her jaw expanding and retracting as it was wont to do when she was angry. "So young, so much potential. If I could count the amount of hotheads that have left this facility, only to be mowed down *the very next week*. You think I'd have enough Favors to get me a new rover?" 

[I advise silence]

*Ditto.* June kept looking at her feet. 

Commander Kristel remained quiet for a good moment. Sighed. "You and Trax are a good mix. You're compatible. Wasn't sure if we would *ever* find a pilot for that one. Wonder what he has to say on the matter."

"Actually, Commander, he doesn't like being preferred with any pronouns -" 

"Don't act coy with me, girl. Get your Natural ass out of my office." Her jaw clicked back into place. "Now."

June passed Antonija and Todor on her way to her rooms, the pair were waiting to enter the training field. They gave her the same smirk she'd been getting her entire life: a mixture of pity and amusement. 

"Best time yet, Natural?" Todar asked with an arched eyebrow. 

"Keep that up and you'll reach Augmented average times." Anotnija said with a giggle. 

For once, June stopped in the sterile hallway. "Tell me, Antonija. What good is time if you're dead?" 

She left the pair with the same smirk she found them. *They've probably heard that one before. Kristel isn't the most creative person.*

[if you knew that was a common phrase; why did -]

*Humans are smart, T.* She thought to her Companion. *They'd know Kristel gave me the 'time' speech. They'd know I'm catching up to them.*

[peculiar]

Her rooms were spacious and boring. June attended her activities with focus: post-field workout, nutrients injection, cleansing session, cleaning session, and her daily indulgence - food. Afterwards, she flopped onto her cushion case, got absorbed and slept.  

And slept.

And -

Woke to the sound of all three alarms. Her white room turned red, then purple, then black. Not good. 

[intruders on base; all personnel are to evacuate immediately] 

*Talk to me, T!*

[external sensors have been cut off]

June stood in her room, unable to process her current feelings. She would later realize it was the first time she felt genuine terror. *They EMPed the base?*

[humans still have their utilities in tact]

*But Companions don't? That doesn't make any sense.* She moved to her cabinet, got out her blasters, stepped to the door. Locked. *My utilities should still function...* And with a tic, and a tac, and a *crack*, the door opened. 

To chaos. 

Her soundproofed room had blocked out the cacophony of wails, yells, and screams. Her extended vision absorbed the view in one frightening second: Antonija clutching a headless Todor, her expression frozen with mouth wide open; the wall was breached, letting in a storm of snow, rain, and ash; her instructors setting up barricades at the end of the hall, their Augmenteded expressions stilled, their motions frantic. 

[80° to your right; plasma]

June hopped back into her room, the plasma shell erupting where she stood. *What are our objectives?* 

[all personnel are to evacuate immediately] 

*Cache that!*

[what are we doing]

*We're fighting!*  

An armored figure arose from nothing in front of her. *A Phaser?* Its movements were slow, probably overconfident since he could scan June's nakedness. She put him down with two simultaneous shots to the head with Augmented-like accuracy. 

June wasn't called the Natural for nothing.

[I concur; we fight]

June sprang into action, her mind going blank, her movements: free. She blasted someone in the back as he was about to slay one of her instructors. The instructor turned, her face a mask, her eyes -

It was Kristel. "Ma'am, we have to get behind the barricade!" 

"Flee, you fool!" However, June's face was all-natural, and Kristel could clearly read her expression. "Caching, girl!" 

Commander Kristel took her by the waist and hoisted her up like only an Augmented human could. She dashed at super human speeds towards the end of the hallway and the barricade. 

June's scan picked up an intrusion to the left, closing in fast. She looked, saw, shot, hit. The figure dropped before it could even aim. 

"You sure you ain't Augmented, girl?"

"I'm no girl!" She got another barely grazing her scan. 

"Point taken!" 

Kristel threw herself over the barricade, landing amongst her peers. The shields were comprised of unbreakable titanium, and by the looks of it, they had gathered every last drop in the base to form it. 

"What's the play?" Kristel talked to no one in particular. 

"They are going for the projection field!" Another instructor, Borjan, yelled while aiming his handblaster. "If we hold this entrance they can't get to it!"

"That's not true..."

"Speak up, June." Kristel prodded her with an elbow. 

"That's not true!" June stepped forward. "I saw one appearing out of nowhere! They got Phasing tech for sure!" 

"Who is this cadette?"

"She isn't a cadette, she's a Sargent!" Kristel blasted an incoming armored figure. "And she's my best."

"If she's telling the truth..." Borjan had his arms down. "We're finished. They can scan our Augments while we can only rely on our inferior natural senses..." He looked down at his Augmented hands, clenched them, unclenched them. "And they would have already reached the field. Yes. We're finished..."

Kristel extended her hand to *slap* some sense into Borjan. "It's only finished when you think it is..."

June nodded. "I still have my sensors."

"What?"

"Impossible!" 

"Is she high?"

A glance from Kristel halted the protests. She turned to face June. "Your Companion? He is providing you with your sensors?" 

"I guess?" 

Borjan guffawed. "The Unaugmented girl is the only one who can scan? Perfect!" He shook his head at Kristel's look. 

She shook her head again when she turned back to June. "A Natural with a Companion... they called me crazy..." She exhaled, and it seemed the world exhaled with her. "Any signs of backup?" 

"ETA ten minutes!" 

"Listen to me." Kristel got real close to June. "You will run towards the field, you will pay attention to your surroundings and you will take out any caching fool that so much as stares at you, understood? You will reach the field and prevent them from getting to the far right wall. The emergency command panel is stashed behind. Understood? By no means are they to reach it."

"For ten minutes?"

"For ten minutes."

"Now?" 

The Commander's stare was all June needed to sprint in the opposite direction.   


![headers copy.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/grocko/23wWpHpnbUbroEymHpM6at2baKNbiDRv34GTv5dWeK6eRzB1nhJeDcRR9uLHcpHsXENxf.png)

This is farrrr-future. So much so that it could be considered sci-fantasy by some. 🤷‍♀

**I know** I haven't finished Blood Oath yet (that shit has been a hot mess I'll tell ya. 😅) This one was supposed to be a singular story, but it turned out too long... So a duology it is! 😁

**Obligatory shout-out to the 🍕[PIZZA](https://peakd.com/c/hive-185582/created)🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙** 

👊 Follow me on my [HIVE blog](https://peakd.com/@grocko) 👊

Image [source](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/robot-machine-digital-robots-4120890/).

Have a great weekend! 😏